The Age of Innocence 纯真年代

She was dressed as if for a ball. Everything about hershimmered and glimmered softly, as if her dress hadbeen woven out of candle-beams; and she carried herhead high, like a pretty woman challenging a roomfulof rivals.

她打扮得像是要参加舞会的样子，周身散发着柔和的亮光，仿佛她的衣服是用烛光编织成的一样。她高昂着头，像个傲视满屋竞争者的漂亮女子。

"We were saying, my dear, that here was somethingbeautiful to surprise you with," Mrs. Manson rejoined,rising to her feet and pointing archly to the flowers.

“我们正在说，亲爱的，这儿有件美丽的东西让你吃惊，”曼森夫人回答说，她站起身，诡秘地指着那些鲜花。

Madame Olenska stopped short and looked at thebouquet. Her colour did not change, but a sort ofwhite radiance of anger ran over her like summer lightning."Ah," she exclaimed, in a shrill voice that theyoung man had never heard, "who is ridiculous enoughto send me a bouquet? Why a bouquet? And whytonight of all nights? I am not going to a ball; I am nota girl engaged to be married. But some people arealways ridiculous."

The ubiquitous handmaiden promptly appeared, andArcher heard Madame Olenska say, in an Italian thatshe seemed to pronounce with intentional deliberatenessin order that he might follow it: "Here--throwthis into the dustbin!" and then, as Nastasia staredprotestingly: "But no--it's not the fault of the poorflowers. Tell the boy to carry them to the house threedoors away, the house of Mr. Winsett, the dark gentlemanwho dined here. His wife is ill--they may give herpleasure . . . The boy is out, you say? Then, my dearone, run yourself; here, put my cloak over you and fly.I want the thing out of the house immediately! And, asyou live, don't say they come from me!"

She flung her velvet opera cloak over the maid'sshoulders and turned back into the drawing-room, shuttingthe door sharply. Her bosom was rising high underits lace, and for a moment Archer thought she wasabout to cry; but she burst into a laugh instead, andlooking from the Marchioness to Archer, asked abruptly:"And you two--have you made friends!"

"It's for Mr. Archer to say, darling; he has waitedpatiently while you were dressing."

“这要让阿切尔先生说，亲爱的。你梳妆的时候他一直耐心等着。”

"Yes--I gave you time enough: my hair wouldn'tgo," Madame Olenska said, raising her hand to theheaped-up curls of her chignon. "But that reminds me:I see Dr. Carver is gone, and you'll be late at theBlenkers'. Mr. Archer, will you put my aunt in thecarriage?"

She followed the Marchioness into the hall, saw herfitted into a miscellaneous heap of overshoes, shawlsand tippets, and called from the doorstep: "Mind, thecarriage is to be back for me at ten!" Then she returnedto the drawing-room, where Archer, on re-entering it,found her standing by the mantelpiece, examining herselfin the mirror. It was not usual, in New Yorksociety, for a lady to address her parlour-maid as "mydear one," and send her out on an errand wrapped inher own opera-cloak; and Archer, through all his deeperfeelings, tasted the pleasurable excitement of being in aworld where action followed on emotion with suchOlympian speed.

Madame Olenska did not move when he came upbehind her, and for a second their eyes met in themirror; then she turned, threw herself into her sofa-corner, and sighed out: "There's time for a cigarette."

他从后面走过来，奥兰斯卡夫人没有动。一瞬间，他们两人的目光在镜中相遇了。这时她转过身来，猛地坐到沙发角里，叹口气说：“还来得及吸支香烟。”

He handed her the box and lit a spill for her; and asthe flame flashed up into her face she glanced at himwith laughing eyes and said: "What do you think of mein a temper?"

他递给她烟盒，并为她点着一片引柴，火苗燃起来照到她的脸上，她两眼笑着瞧了他一眼说：“你觉得我发起火来怎么样？”

Archer paused a moment; then he answered withsudden resolution: "It makes me understand what youraunt has been saying about you."

阿切尔停了一会儿，接着毅然决然地说：“它使我明白了你姑妈刚才讲的你那些事。”

"I knew she'd been talking about me. Well?"

“我就知道她在谈论我，是吗？”

"She said you were used to all kinds of things--splendours and amusements and excitements--that wecould never hope to give you here."

“她讲到你过去习惯的各种事情——显赫、娱乐、刺激——我们这儿根本不可能向你提供的那些东西。”

Madame Olenska smiled faintly into the circle ofsmoke about her lips.

奥兰斯卡夫人淡然一笑，嘴里吐出一团烟圈。

"Medora is incorrigibly romantic. It has made up toher for so many things!"

“梅多拉的罗曼蒂克是根深蒂固的，这使她在许多方面得到了补偿！”

Archer hesitated again, and again took his risk. "Is youraunt's romanticism always consistent with accuracy?"

阿切尔又犹豫了，但他又大着胆子问：“你姑妈的浪漫主义是否一贯与准确性保持一致呢？”

"You mean: does she speak the truth?" Her niececonsidered. "Well, I'll tell you: in almost everything shesays, there's something true and something untrue. Butwhy do you ask? What has she been telling you?"

He looked away into the fire, and then back at hershining presence. His heart tightened with the thoughtthat this was their last evening by that fireside, and thatin a moment the carriage would come to carry her away.

"She says--she pretends that Count Olenski has askedher to persuade you to go back to him."

“她说——她说奥兰斯基伯爵要求她劝你回到他身边去。”

Madame Olenska made no answer. She sat motionless,holding her cigarette in her half-lifted hand. Theexpression of her face had not changed; and Archerremembered that he had before noticed her apparentincapacity for surprise.

奥兰斯卡夫人没有回答。她坐着纹丝不动，举到半途的手里握着香烟，面部的表情也没有变化。阿切尔记得以前就注意到她明显没有惊讶的反应。

"You knew, then?" he broke out.

“这么说你早已知道了？”他喊道。

She was silent for so long that the ash dropped fromher cigarette. She brushed it to the floor. "She hashinted about a letter: poor darling! Medora's hints--"

她沉默了许久，烟灰从她的香烟上掉了下来，她把它掸到地上。“她暗示过一封信的事。可怜的东西！梅多拉的暗示——”

"Is it at your husband's request that she has arrivedhere suddenly?"

“她是不是应你丈夫的要求才突然来这儿的？”

Madame Olenska seemed to consider this questionalso. "There again: one can't tell. She told me she hadhad a `spiritual summons,' whatever that is, from Dr.Carver. I'm afraid she's going to marry Dr. Carver . . .poor Medora, there's always some one she wants tomarry. But perhaps the people in Cuba just got tired ofher! I think she was with them as a sort of paidcompanion. Really, I don't know why she came."

Again Madame Olenska brooded silently; then shesaid: "After all, it was to be expected."

奥兰斯卡夫人又一次默然沉思起来，过了一会儿，她说：“毕竟，这是预料中的事。”

The young man rose and went to lean against thefireplace. A sudden restlessness possessed him, and hewas tongue-tied by the sense that their minutes werenumbered, and that at any moment he might hear thewheels of the returning carriage.

Madame Olenska raised her head quickly. A deepblush rose to her face and spread over her neck andshoulders. She blushed seldom and painfully, as if ithurt her like a burn.

奥兰斯卡夫人迅速抬起头来，一片深红色在她脸上泛起，漫过她的脖颈。肩头。她很少脸红，而脸红的时候显得很痛苦，仿佛被烫伤了似的。

"Many cruel things have been believed of me," shesaid.

“人们相信我会做很多残忍的事，”她说。

"Oh, Ellen--forgive me; I'm a fool and a brute!"

“唉，埃伦——原谅我；我是个可恶的傻瓜！”

She smiled a little. "You are horribly nervous; youhave your own troubles. I know you think the Wellandsare unreasonable about your marriage, and ofcourse I agree with you. In Europe people don't understandour long American engagements; I suppose theyare not as calm as we are." She pronounced the "we"with a faint emphasis that gave it an ironic sound.

Archer felt the irony but did not dare to take it up.After all, she had perhaps purposely deflected theconversation from her own affairs, and after the pain hislast words had evidently caused her he felt that all hecould do was to follow her lead. But the sense of thewaning hour made him desperate: he could not bearthe thought that a barrier of words should dropbetween them again.

"Because she's not like that: she's so much nobler.She insists all the more on the long engagement, to giveme time--"

“因为她不是那种人：她非常地高尚，反而越发坚持订婚期要长，以便给我时间——”

"Time to give her up for the other woman?"

“给你时间抛弃她，去找另一个女人？”

"If I want to."

“假如我想那样做的话。”

Madame Olenska leaned toward the fire and gazedinto it with fixed eyes. Down the quiet street Archerheard the approaching trot of her horses.

奥兰斯卡夫人朝炉火探了探身，目光凝视着炉火。阿切尔听见下面安静的街道上传来她的马越来越近的奔跑声。

"That IS noble," she said, with a slight break in hervoice.

“这的确很高尚，”她说，声音有点儿沙哑。

"Yes. But it's ridiculous."

“是的，不过很荒唐。”

"Ridiculous? Because you don't care for any oneelse?"

“荒唐？因为你根本不喜欢别的人？”

"Because I don't mean to marry any one else."

“因为我不打算娶别的人。”

"Ah." There was another long interval. At length shelooked up at him and asked: "This other woman--does she love you?"

“噢。”又是一阵长时间的停顿。最后，她抬头看着他问道：“这位另一个女人——她爱你吗？”

"Oh, there's no other woman; I mean, the personthat May was thinking of is--was never--"

“咳，根本就没有另一个女人；我是说，梅所想象的那个人决不——从来没——”

"Then, why, after all, are you in such haste?"

“那么，你究竟为什么这样着急呢？”

"There's your carriage," said Archer.

“你的马车来了，”阿切尔说。

She half-rose and looked about her with absent eyes.Her fan and gloves lay on the sofa beside her and shepicked them up mechanically.

她半立起身子，目光茫然地打量一下身边。她的扇子和手套摆在她身旁的沙发上，她心不在焉地拾了起来。

"Yes; I suppose I must be going."

“是啊，我想我得准备走了。”

"You're going to Mrs. Struthers's?"

“是到斯特拉瑟斯太太家去吗？”

"Yes." She smiled and added: "I must go where I aminvited, or I should be too lonely. Why not come withme?"

“是的。”她露出笑容补充说：“我必须到受欢迎的地方去，不然我会感到太孤单，干吗不跟我一块儿去？”

Archer felt that at any cost he must keep her besidehim, must make her give him the rest of her evening.Ignoring her question, he continued to lean against thechimney-piece, his eyes fixed on the hand in which sheheld her gloves and fan, as if watching to see if he hadthe power to make her drop them.

"May guessed the truth," he said. "There is anotherwoman--but not the one she thinks."

“梅猜对了，”他说。“是有另外一个女人——但不是她想的那一位”

Ellen Olenska made no answer, and did not move.After a moment he sat down beside her, and, takingher hand, softly unclasped it, so that the gloves and fanfell on the sofa between them.

埃伦·奥兰斯卡没有搭言，也没有动弹。过了一会儿，他坐到她身旁，拿起她的手，轻轻把它伸开，结果手套和扇子落在了他俩中间的沙发上。

She started up, and freeing herself from him movedaway to the other side of the hearth. "Ah, don't makelove to me! Too many people have done that," shesaid, frowning.

她跳了起来，挣开他的手，移到壁炉另一边。“哎哟，可别向我求爱！这样做的人可太多了，”她皱起眉头说。

Archer, changing colour, stood up also: it was thebitterest rebuke she could have given him. "I havenever made love to you," he said, "and I never shall.But you are the woman I would have married if it hadbeen possible for either of us."

"Possible for either of us?" She looked at him withunfeigned astonishment. "And you say that--when it'syou who've made it impossible?"

“我们两人都没有了可能？”她面带真诚的惊讶看着他说。“你还说这话——当你亲自制造了这种不可能的时候？”

He stared at her, groping in a blackness throughwhich a single arrow of light tore its blinding way.

他睁大眼睛看着她，在黑暗中搜索着，一支闪光的箭令人眩目地划破了黑暗。

"I'VE made it impossible--?"

“是我制造了这种不可能——？”

"You, you, YOU!" she cried, her lip trembling like achild's on the verge of tears. "Isn't it you who made megive up divorcing--give it up because you showed mehow selfish and wicked it was, how one must sacrificeone's self to preserve the dignity of marriage . . . and tospare one's family the publicity, the scandal? Andbecause my family was going to be your family--forMay's sake and for yours--I did what you told me,what you proved to me that I ought to do. Ah," shebroke out with a sudden laugh, "I've made no secret ofhaving done it for you!"

She sank down on the sofa again, crouching amongthe festive ripples of her dress like a stricken masquerader;and the young man stood by the fireplace andcontinued to gaze at her without moving.

她重新坐到沙发上，蜷缩在她那节日盛装的波纹中间，像个受了挫折的跳假面舞的人。年轻人站在壁炉跟前，依旧一动不动地凝视着她。

"Good God," he groaned. "When I thought--"

“我的老天，”他沉吟道，“当我想到——”

"You thought?"

“你想到什么？”

"Ah, don't ask me what I thought!"

“唉，别问我想到什么！”

Still looking at her, he saw the same burning flushcreep up her neck to her face. She sat upright, facinghim with a rigid dignity.

他仍然在盯着她，只见那种像火一般的深红色又涌上了她的脖颈和脸。她坐直身体，十分威严地面对着他。

"I do ask you."

“我偏要问。”

"Well, then: there were things in that letter youasked me to read--"

“唔，好吧：你当时让我读的那封信里有些内容——”

"My husband's letter?"

“我丈夫那封信？”

"Yes."

“是啊。”

"I had nothing to fear from that letter: absolutelynothing! All I feared was to bring notoriety, scandal,on the family--on you and May."

“那封信中没有什么可怕的东西，绝对没有！我全部的担心就是给家庭——也给你和梅——带来恶名和丑闻。”

"Good God," he groaned again, bowing his face inhis hands.

“我的老天，”他又沉吟道，同时低下头，两手捂住了脸。

The silence that followed lay on them with the weightof things final and irrevocable. It seemed to Archer tobe crushing him down like his own grave-stone; in allthe wide future he saw nothing that would ever lift thatload from his heart. He did not move from his place, orraise his head from his hands; his hidden eyeballs wenton staring into utter darkness.

On the other side of the hearth, from the sofa-cornerwhere he supposed that she still crouched, he heard afaint stifled crying like a child's. He started up andcame to her side.

在壁炉的另一侧，从他猜测她依然蜷缩的沙发角里，他听见一声小孩子似的抽噎声。他大吃一惊，急忙走到她的身边。

"Ellen! What madness! Why are you crying? Nothing'sdone that can't be undone. I'm still free, andyou're going to be." He had her in his arms, her facelike a wet flower at his lips, and all their vain terrorsshrivelling up like ghosts at sunrise. The one thing thatastonished him now was that he should have stood forfive minutes arguing with her across the width of theroom, when just touching her made everything so simple.

He stood up too, flushed and resolute. "Nonsense!It's too late for that sort of thing. We've no right to lieto other people or to ourselves. We won't talk of yourmarriage; but do you see me marrying May after this?"

She stood silent, resting her thin elbows on the mantelpiece,her profile reflected in the glass behind her. Oneof the locks of her chignon had become loosened andhung on her neck; she looked haggard and almost old.

"I don't see you," she said at length, "putting thatquestion to May. Do you?"

“我想，”她终于说，“你没法向梅提这个问题，你说呢？”

He gave a reckless shrug. "It's too late to doanything else."

他满不在乎地耸了耸肩说：“现在太晚了，已经别无选择。”

"You say that because it's the easiest thing to say atthis moment--not because it's true. In reality it's toolate to do anything but what we'd both decided on."

“你说这话是因为眼前这样讲最容易——而不是因为当真如此。事实上，除了我们既定的事实，其他事才是太晚了呢。”

"Ah, I don't understand you!"

“唉，我不懂你的意思！”

She forced a pitiful smile that pinched her faceinstead of smoothing it. "You don't understand becauseyou haven't yet guessed how you've changed things forme: oh, from the first--long before I knew all you'ddone."

"Yes. I was perfectly unconscious at first that peoplehere were shy of me--that they thought I was a dreadfulsort of person. It seems they had even refused tomeet me at dinner. I found that out afterward; andhow you'd made your mother go with you to the vander Luydens'; and how you'd insisted on announcingyour engagement at the Beaufort ball, so that I mighthave two families to stand by me instead of one--"

"Just imagine," she said, "how stupid and unobservantI was! I knew nothing of all this till Grannyblurted it out one day. New York simply meant peaceand freedom to me: it was coming home. And I was sohappy at being among my own people that every one Imet seemed kind and good, and glad to see me. Butfrom the very beginning," she continued, "I felt therewas no one as kind as you; no one who gave mereasons that I understood for doing what at first seemedso hard and--unnecessary. The very good people didn'tconvince me; I felt they'd never been tempted. But youknew; you understood; you had felt the world outsidetugging at one with all its golden hands--and yet youhated the things it asks of one; you hated happinessbought by disloyalty and cruelty and indifference. Thatwas what I'd never known before--and it's better thananything I've known."

She spoke in a low even voice, without tears orvisible agitation; and each word, as it dropped fromher, fell into his breast like burning lead. He sat bowedover, his head between his hands, staring at the hearthrug,and at the tip of the satin shoe that showed underher dress. Suddenly he knelt down and kissed the shoe.

She bent over him, laying her hands on his shoulders,and looking at him with eyes so deep that he remainedmotionless under her gaze.

她在他上方弯下身，把两手放在他的肩头，用那么深沉的目光看着他，在她的注视下，他呆着一动不动。

"Ah, don't let us undo what you've done!" she cried."I can't go back now to that other way of thinking. Ican't love you unless I give you up."

“啊，我们还是不要更改你已经做了的事吧！”她喊道。“现在我无法再恢复以前那种思维方式了。只有放弃你，我才能够爱你。”

His arms were yearning up to her; but she drewaway, and they remained facing each other, divided bythe distance that her words had created. Then, abruptly,his anger overflowed.

他渴望地向她伸开双臂，但她却退缩了。他们依然面对着面，被她这句话制造的距离分开了。这时，他的怒气勃然而起。

"And Beaufort? Is he to replace me?"

“那么是博福特？他要取代我的位置？”

As the words sprang out he was prepared for ananswering flare of anger; and he would have welcomedit as fuel for his own. But Madame Olenska only grewa shade paler, and stood with her arms hanging downbefore her, and her head slightly bent, as her way waswhen she pondered a question.

"He's waiting for you now at Mrs. Struthers's; whydon't you go to him?" Archer sneered.

“他正在斯特拉瑟斯太太家等你呢，干吗不去找他？”阿切尔冷笑着说。

She turned to ring the bell. "I shall not go out thisevening; tell the carriage to go and fetch the SignoraMarchesa," she said when the maid came.

她转过身去摇了摇铃。女佣进来后，她说：“今晚我不出去了，通知马车去接西格诺拉·马西哑去吧。”

After the door had closed again Archer continued tolook at her with bitter eyes. "Why this sacrifice? Sinceyou tell me that you're lonely I've no right to keep youfrom your friends."

门关上之后，阿切尔继续用讥讽的目光看着她说：“何必做这种牺牲呢？既然你告诉我你很孤单，那么我没有权力让你离开你的朋友们。”

She smiled a little under her wet lashes. "I shan't belonely now. I WAS lonely; I WAS afraid. But the emptinessand the darkness are gone; when I turn back intomyself now I'm like a child going at night into a roomwhere there's always a light."

Her tone and her look still enveloped her in a softinaccessibility, and Archer groaned out again: "I don'tunderstand you!"

她的语气与神色仍然像一层外壳一样包围着她，使她处于一种不可接近的朦胧之中。阿切尔又抱怨地说：“我不理解你！”

"Yet you understand May!"

“可你却理解梅！”

He reddened under the retort, but kept his eyes onher. "May is ready to give me up."

听了这句反责，他脸红了，但眼睛依然看着她说：“梅随时准备放弃我。”

"What! Three days after you've entreated her onyour knees to hasten your marriage?"

“什么？在你下跪恳求她赶紧结婚刚过3天之后？”

"She's refused; that gives me the right--"

“她拒绝了我；这就给了我权力——”

"Ah, you've taught me what an ugly word that is,"she said.

“啊，你让我明白了这个字有多丑恶，”她说。

He turned away with a sense of utter weariness. Hefelt as though he had been struggling for hours up theface of a steep precipice, and now, just as he hadfought his way to the top, his hold had given way andhe was pitching down headlong into darkness.

他非常厌烦地转过脸去，他觉得仿佛挣扎了好几个小时攀登一块陡峭的悬崖，现在，当他奋力到达顶峰时，他的手又把不住了，他又一头扎向黑暗之中。

If he could have got her in his arms again he mighthave swept away her arguments; but she still held himat a distance by something inscrutably aloof in her lookand attitude, and by his own awed sense of her sincerity.At length he began to plead again.

Half an hour later, when Archer unlocked his ownfront-door, he found a similar envelope on the hall-tableon top of his pile of notes and letters. The messageinside the envelope was also from May Welland, andran as follows: "Parents consent wedding Tuesday afterEaster at twelve Grace Church eight bridesmaidsplease see Rector so happy love May."

Archer crumpled up the yellow sheet as if the gesturecould annihilate the news it contained. Then he pulledout a small pocket-diary and turned over the pageswith trembling fingers; but he did not find what hewanted, and cramming the telegram into his pocket hemounted the stairs.

A light was shining through the door of the littlehall-room which served Janey as a dressing-room andboudoir, and her brother rapped impatiently on thepanel. The door opened, and his sister stood beforehim in her immemorial purple flannel dressing-gown,with her hair "on pins." Her face looked pale andapprehensive.